For most Americans, Labor Day is a welcome holiday before the school year sets in. My family has always joked about it because in our house Labor Day always meant just that–labor. It was a day for Mom and Dad to get the house and the yard in order before school and cooler weather started. And guess who got to help?
Labor Day has been a national holiday for well over 100 years. According to the Department of Labor, it was the creation of the labor movement, to commemorate the achievements and contributions of American workers. It’s a yearly reminder that the wealth and prosperity of this nation is founded on the backs of millions of American workers over the centuries.
Today labor has a bad name–something you have to do to earn the money for what you really want to do. We seem to have completely lost the concept that labor imparts dignity. After all, what is the first thing recorded in the Bible? The six days of God’s labor in creation. I love how Dr. Del Tackett addresses labor in The Truth Project. Here’s a glimpse…
Work is ennobling. Our current government would do well to remember that. People should be encouraged, and trained, to work for their living, not treated like they can’t take care of themselves. That’s the subtle message of government hand outs (like the 12,000 cell phones government giveaway happening in Marathon County); we don’t think you can make it on your own because you are low income. And then a government handout becomes a right somehow!
This Labor Day should be a celebration of our right to work, to provide for ourselves, to partake in the endeavor that gives men and women dignity and allows them to contribute to society.
Wisconsin Family Voice 